Apparatus for melting and fining glass



Aug.v 3l 1926'.

R; YD. PIKE APPARATUS FORMELTING ANDFINING GLASS Filed oct. 25, 1922' ssheets-sham2 1 INVENTOR. R.D.1? e

gv M M f AT T RNE Y S' 1,598,307 R. D. PIKE APPARATUS FOR MELTING ANDFINING GLAss Filed 0G12. 25, 1922 3 Sheets-511601'. 2

Aug. 3l 1926.

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R. D. PIKE APPARATUS PoR' MELTING AND FINING GLAss Filed Oct. 1922 3Sheets-Sheet lNVEpfToR. R. H e

`M BY m M 1% ATTORN S.

Patented Aug. 3l, 1926.

AUNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT D. PIKE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIrORNIA7 AssIGNoB iro COLE-FRENCHCOM- raNY, A CORPORATION.

APPARATUS FOR MELTING AND FINING GLASS.

Application filed October 25, 1922.v Serial No. 596,731.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for melting and finingglass;

In glass tank furnaces, as hitherto constructed, the furnaces are of theregenerative type and several flames play over the pool of molten'glassalternately from either side. As a. rule, the diniension of the furnacein the'direction of the flame is only about one-half the dimensiontransverse to the flame. The raw batch is fed into the `furnace at oneof the shorter sides o1' ends. and becoming melted, proceeds gradually.in a' direction transverse to the Haine until it leaves the melt-ingand fining part of the furnace by I'passing through a submerged port ina wall which completely separates the pool of glass in this meltingandning part of the furnace from the pool of finished glass in the end ofthe furnace from which the glass is worked. This submerged port is smallin size, usually having about l sq. ft. of area, and elevated only about4 above the floor of the furnace. And in some cases, the wall dividingthe glass in the furnace proper from that in the working end is notfixed rigidly in the furnace structure, but is composed of fire-claymembers which float on the glass.

In such prior furnaces the constituents of theglass, in passing throughthe pool in the melting and iining part o the furnace are subjected totwo distinct actions; namely (c) the melting proper and (b) the liningaction, which latter may be termed the process of .thoroughly mixing theconstituents and eliminating therefrom all of the gaseous products ofdecomposition of the raw batch. The action of eliminating the gas isaccomplished by giving the glasssutlicient time to thoroughly'mix and toallow the'said gaseous products to escape; but throughout the entiretime used for kept at a'high point, which requires that flamesrmust playover the entire surface of the pool of molten glass in the meltingandvining portion of the furnace;`

Inpoint of time, the simple process of melting theingredients of thebatch by the heat of the fiame is much. shorter than the process offining; hence, if melting only were to be considered, the process couldbe carried on in a much smaller furnace and with less fuel per ton o fOutput,

rverse to the fining, the temperature` of the glass must be I have foundthat if glass be melted in a furnace whose dimension with the fiame isover twice as great as its dimension transflame, or of dimensions, sayabout l5 x 40', or similar in general construction to furnaces which arelused for melting steel, the process of melting alone can be carried outin a much more economical and rapid manner than heretofore, although theglass issuing from` ,submerged port in one of the longersidesfilffifsuch a furnace will not be' properly fined'nor ready for working.But if such glass be inline` diately taken and passed through somelspe-'y cial fining device, more or less inde endent` of the melting furnaceproper, whlch will have a capacity for ining corresponding with thecapacity for melting, and be then passed from such iining device intoacompartment from whence it may be delivered as required to the workingdevices, a combination is arrived at for producing pro erly fined glassat a greater rate per sq. t; of furnace area and for less fuel per tonof output than is possible by prior practice.

My present invention consists in a process of melting and fining glassin which meltin is carried out in a furnace which is designed forefficient melting, preferably one having its dimension with the flamegreater than its dimension transverse to the flame, and removing themolten glass from said melting furnace when melted but before beingoompletely fined and thence passing said molten glass through a -devicefor fining, whose fimngfunction is performed more or less-indcpendentlyof the melting function, and

thence passing the molten glass into a com-` partment for working, theAentire process J of melting, fining and working being carrid outcontinuously and consecutively.

In the accompanylng drawings` Fig. l shows a plan view of one form-ofapparatus for practicing my invention.

Fig. .2 shows a longitudinal,vertical, sec-1 tional view of the same. f

Fig. 3 shows a sectional ,View taken-on the line 3&3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 shows a sectional view takenfonp' plan View of a mcdiifidf,

izo

Fig. 7 shows a vertical, central, sectional view of thesame.

Referring in detail to the form of myinvention illustrated in Figs. 1 to5, inclusive, 1 indicates a furnace of the open hearth, regenerativetype having a port 2 for directing a flame of gas and air into thefurnace and a regenerator chamber 3 of the usual design containingseparate compartments with checker brick for -preheating gas and air.The raw batch is fed in through the small bays 4, the level of moltenglassextending throughout the entire apparatus, as inthcated by the line5. The glass in leaving the bays el passes through a submerged port 6,the refractories surrounding which are protected by a water jacket 7.The glass then passes through a lining compartment 8, pursuing atortuous up and down path, first passing over a Weir 9, then through asubmerged port 6, then over a weir 9 and then through a submerged port6. All of the refractories in the ports and weirs are protected by wattrjackets 7.

The aforesaid travel of the glass is conducive to rapid lining, inasmuchas the lighter unfined glass is separated from the heavier finishedglass, and the rise of gas bubbles to the surface is accelerated by themixing action of the tortuous flow and by contact with the bricksurfaces. However, there will be a marked cooling of the glass inpassing through the' fining compartment which will increase viscosity,and thereby reduce the rate of elimination of bubbles unless heat beadded to the glass.

The temperature of the glass during fin'- ing is kept'up by maintaininga flame in counter-current to the travel of the glass. Any suitable fuelis introduced through port 10, meeting preheatedair coming through port11. The preheated air comes through passage 12, the flow of air inwhichis controlled by a water-cooled reversing valve 13, which operatessynchronously with the main reversing valve and keeps up a continualflow of preheated air into the combustion chamber 14 of the liningcompartment from the top of the air checker chambers.

The'products of combustion pass continuously through the fining chamberin countercurrent to th ing furnace whence they pass through theregenerators with the main gases ofv combustion.

The fined glass flowing from port 6 enters the working compartment 16,whence it passes by any suitable means into the feeder boxes 17 andthene to any suitable working means. p

In place of the weirs 9, 9', partition walls having submerged port-smaybe used, so that the glass will pass through a series of submergedports.

A further modification of the invention e glass and enter the mainmeltconsists in the use of agitation as the lining means, asillustratedin Figs. 6 and 7.

The glass, as usual', leaves the melting compartment 1 through thesubmerged port 6 and enters a compartment 26 which is preferably ofcylindrical shape. The glass leaves the compartment 26 through submergedport 6 and enters the working compartment 16'.` lliile in compartment26, the glass is stirred byvany suitable stirring device, indicated at27. The stirring device may be composed of hollow steel or iron memberswater-cooled internally, and protected externally by a refractorylining. This stirring causes the bubbles to rise to the surface in ananalogous manner to the stirring of a glass of carbonated water, thesound or bubble-'free glass seeking the bot tom of the compartment andpassing through port 6 into the working compart- 8 ment.

The stirring device can be given any'suitable form or desired velocityof rotation. It is well known that in prior discontinuous processes ofmelting glass in pots, the stirring thereof is employed as a means forassisting the fining process.

It is obvious that any suitable means may be employed for heating theglass either in compartment 27 or 16. Part or all of the means which Ihave described for carrying out my method may be employed in anysuitable combination.

The present invention is not limited to any special means, butcontemplates the continuoiis method of melting and lining glass whichconsists of melting in one compartment and thence continuously removingand transferring the melted glass to a separate lining compartment andthence continuously removing and transferring the finished glass to aseparate working compartment. The production of any of the present typesof furnaces, even those containing lining apparatus canbe greatlyincreased by adding u outside ining compartments, as disclosed herein.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. An apparatus for melting and ining glass comprisingan open-hearth regenerative furnace whose dimension longitudinally ofthe flame is greater than its dimension transverse thereto, a submergedport leading 12 from said furnace, a fining compartment connectedwith-said submerged port to continuously receive melted glass from thefurnace, means in said fining compartment for l mixing the constituentsof the melted glass l and removing therefrom the gaseous products ofdecomposition and a working chamber into which the glass is continuouslydelivered from said tning compartment.

2. An apparatus for melting and lining glass comprising an open hearthregenerative furnace, a. submerged port leading from said furnace, afining compartment connected with said submerged port to continuouslyreceive melted glass from the furnace, means in said fining compartmentfor mixing the constituents of the melted glass and removing therefromthe gaseous products of decomposition, and a working chamber into whichthe glass is continuously delivered from the said fining compartment andmeans for supplying a unidirectional flame over the glass in the fningcompart-` ment, and for assing' the products of combustilon of said)flame over the glass inthe said furnace.

3. An apparatus for melting and lining glass comprising an open hearthregenerative furnace, a submerged port leading from said furnace, afining compartment connectedwith said submerged port to continuouslyreceive melted glass from the furnace, means in said ning compartmentfor mixing the constituents of the melted glass and removing therefromthe gaseous roducts of decomposition, and a Working c amber into whichthe lass is continuously delivered from the sai lining com artment,"

4. An apparatus for melting andifining glass comprising an open hearthregenera- -tizve furnace, a submerged port leading from said furnace, alining compartment connected with said lsubmerged port to continuouslyreceive melted glass from the furnace, means in said fining compartmentfor mixing the constituents of the melted glass and removing therefromthe gaseous products of decomposition, and a working chamber into whichthe glass is continuously delivered from the said fini-ng compartment,andmeans for passing a continuous unidirectional stream of hot secondaryair from the regenerator of said furnace over the surface of the glassin said fining compartment.

ROBERT D. PIKE.

